By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The problem a group of Mona residents have with a land-owner blocking a road providing access to areas on Mt. Nebo, which have been favorites of locals for years, is that he is breaking the law.
JoEllen Peterson, Shannon Memmott, RaDonna Thalman, and Susan Kay met with Juab County commissioners. They were supported by the attendance of more than 20 residents who had the same concern.
"We can have more people than this here, in fact we could fill the room if it were needed," said Peterson.
The first item on their list was that Commissioner LuWayne Walker was not re-elected to the commission and would, therefore, no longer be their representative.
"We feel that LuWayne (Walker) has been the commissioner who has been at bat for us on this issue," said Peterson.
Walker told them that the commission had the county attorney write a letter to the landowner, Randy Brooks, co-owner with his wife Coni, of Barnes-Bullets, located just outside Mona. The Brooks couple own a home built on the side of Mt. Nebo.
The letter had been drafted by Jared Eldridge, Juab County attorney, and was ready to be delivered to Brooks.
Val Jones, commission chairman, said that the letter had not been delivered because he wanted to meet with Brooks a final time to see if the controversy about the road, which the commission holds is a legal county road and Brooks disputes is not, could be worked out amicably.
He said that he and Chad Winn, commissioner, were hoping that they could work out the problem. Failing that, the remaining commissioners were prepared to go to court to fight for ownership of the road.
Peterson said that she had a problem with the county considering taking Brooks to court because she thought the county should simply enforce the law.
"Let him defend himself against the law rather than us defending the law against him," she said.
The county commission should see that the law was obeyed by its residents. If the county went in, took down the fence and removed the gate Brooks had built, then Brooks would need to defend his reasons for having the road blocked and he would need to be the party doing the suing.
"It is a county ordinance," she said.
She said the group was also worried about the failure of the county to demand that Brooks obey the law and feared it would set a precedence for other property owners. There would be other landowners who would then think that they could close a county road and that nothing would be done to stop them. Soon the whole front face of Mt. Nebo would be closed.
"I own land in the county that is crossed by county roads," said Peterson.
Owning the land did not allow her to close the road. However, if the county had let one landowner get away with deciding that he could close a county road then another might do the same thing.
In a case in Sanpete County where a man placed a fence post in the middle of the road, the commission ordered the post removed. County crews followed that edict and removed the post.
Memmott said that the offense of closing a road was, by county ordinance, a class B misdemeanor. Therefore, she wondered why nothing had been done to put a stop to Brooks taking over the road. It had been at least two years since he had fenced in the property and plowed up the existing county road.
Jones said that Brooks had told him that he was allowing access to foot traffic and to those riding horseback. Brooks also told him that the water companies had access to the road to get to and maintain the culinary and irrigation springs.
"There should be a recorded access," said Allen Pay, Mona City Water Master.
The access should allow water department personnel and irrigation company workers to get to water sources 24-7 in case of emergency, said Pay. However, Brooks has kept the gate shut and has been out-of-town for extended periods so that he is not accessible by phone. Therefore, there is really not access.
Both Vest and Clover Creek springs are located in areas where those who do repairs on the water systems must go on the county road now blocked by Brooks.
"I went around to get to the spring," said Pay. "There was a spot where the fence he is building was not completed and that is how I got through."
Vest Spring is located straight up the face of the mountain and the only access is by way of the road. Otherwise, there are cliffs and ledges that make getting to the spring impossible.
Mike Keyte pointed out that aerial maps at the city office in Mona show the county road Brooks has usurped as being present long before Brooks developed the property where his home sits.
Glenn Greenhalgh, county planning director, said the county also had aerial maps that showed the county road plainly. Those maps dated back 40 or more years.
"The county road goes to Fish and Game property where there is a turnaround," said Walker.
The road leading to the spring also goes on to lead into Forest Service property, he said.
Thalman said that, since Brooks closed the road, plowed it, planted it and disallowed road access, he should be made to replace the road in its original roadbed.
Jones said the offer had been made to Brooks to have the county fence the road on both sides of the property which would mean that those using it would need to stay on the road and not travel off of it.
"He could post 'no access" signs along his property and prosecute those cases where trespassers violated his postings," said Peterson.
Cody Memmott told commissioners that they were elected to do the difficult job of taking care of such problems and their constituents would like them to do so.
